I've always liked this picture, and not just because it warms my heart to see Jews welcomed as guests and equals in the corridors of power.
You see, there's something delightfuly subversive about the Rabbis in this picture making a gift of the Menorah. Though I expect they told the president otherwise, the Menorah is not a symbol of freedom, but a symbol of resiliancy: specifically, Jewish resiliancy. Handing one to the head of state is a way of saying we Jews will be forever distinct, forever seperate, forever different.
The hats on their heads tell the same story and there's the rub. We don't wear hats to be distinctive. We wear them at prayer and other important occasions because once upon a time it was considered disrespectful to stand before an important person with one (Mishna Berurah 91:12) But times have changed.
A strong argument can be made that today Jews are no longer required to wear hats because today it is quite normal to stand before an important person without a hat. Most people, for example, speak to their rosh yeshiva bareheaded, and no one, save devout Jews, approach presidents or kings with a hat on.
The picture itself makes the case that the hat's moment has passed. As you can see, the president is bareheaded, though he is in the company of of illustrious Rabbis. Clearly it's not "normal" for him to cover his head in the presence of important people. What was "normal" in the Mishna Brurah's time is not "normal" in ours. Given the language the Mishna Brurah employs, and the evidence of this picture, it's likely the Mishna Brurah would not have demanded hats at prayer in 2005.
I expect there will be some yelping from the peanut gallary about Jewish continuity and the famous Midrash about Jews keeping their distinctive clothing during the Egyptian exile. Those arguments are easily demolished. After all, the Jews did not wear Stetsons or Borsellinos in Egypt, and the first-century Sages who wrote the original Midrah about the "distinctive clothing" did not dress in the manner of Egyptian slaves.
Also, it should be noted that I don't object to hats, or to personal customs. I object to the idea that a hat (and a specific kind of hat, no less) constitutes an official Jewish uniform, one we must keep no matter what. This is a very new cultural development, and one that goes against the facts of history and the plain language of the Mishna Brurah.
